Study on the simultaneity of the substance abuse with psychiatric disorder in referred outpatients to psychiatryclinic of zare hospital for period of one year - Journal of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences

Background and purpose: One of the important problems in diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders is its accompaniment with substance abuse.
In addition to substance abuse symptoms which are present in all addicts, in psychiatric patients it cause special problems in main diagnosis , slow reaction to therapy and even non effectiveness of the therapy and also poor prognosis.Considering its different prevalence in studies and also considering the point that a similar work has never been done in Iran, this study is designed to find out the abundancy of disorders and pattern and type of substances used by the referred patients to psychiatric clinic of zare hospital.
Materials and methods: In this descriptive research study , 782 referrals to psychiatric clinic of zare hospital in a period of one year were evaluated D. S.M. IV interview.
The self made Questionnaire which is filed by a psychologist and then referred to a psychiatric for the diagnosis of the disease, includes the time of Commencement, amount and type of substance used.
Results: The results obtained, showed that 79.1% were men , 20.9% were women, 54.4% were urban and 45.5% were from rural areas. 4.8% were referred for substance – withdrawal and 95.2% for psychiatry problems. and also the 28% were smokers, 68.4% never smoked and 3.8% were smokers in the past. 12.7% were substance abuse at persent 3.3% had a history if substance abuse in the past and 84% had no history of substance abuse ever. Substance dependency and nondependency were 8.6% and 91.4% respectively. The percentages for the first consumed substance were as follow:60.8 opium, 6.4 alcohal, 26.4 hashish, 4 heroin and 2.4 other substances. From psychiatry diagnostic point of view 28.7% suffered from schizophrenia , 41% had mood disorders, 14% had personality disorders and 4% suffered from anxiety. There has been a statistically significant relationship between the variables such as sex , residential areas , occupation, education, marital status, history of cigarette smoking and age of commence ment of smoking with substance dependency (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Considering the high prevalence of Substance usage by the patients referred to psychiatric clinics, the Concurrency of substance usage and psychiatry problems are important in history taking and treatment of the patients. On the other hand to have a high success Coefficient, a simultaneous psychiatric diagnosis for the patients referred for withdrawal , should be kept in mind.